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Garage Door Maintenance

Why is Garage Door Maintenance Needed?

The garage doors are often taken very much for granted. You may have a detached garage, a garage that is adjacent to your house, or an integral part of your house. Yes, the metal doors will get a lick of paint every now and again. However, you just assume that they will carry on functioning indefinitely. This can apply equally to commercial garage doors as well. You tend to forget that a modern garage door is a combination of mechanical, electrical, and microelectronic elements. Each is subjected to wear, can be damaged, or can be exposed to the elements. A bent door panel is an obvious problem, a torsion spring that is becoming “hardened” less so. That torsion spring could well cause a lot of problems if it were to snap. For many of us, we only become aware of a problem when it is too late.

A garage door has a number of important mechanical components. These include torsion and extension springs. There are also spring cables, rollers, pulleys and cables. Added to this, there is a main electrical power input for opening the garage door. Opener devices and receivers are microelectronic. These can get damaged. Lastly, the garage door itself could be made of metal panes. If, say your car was to reverse into the garage door, this could throw the whole door “balance” out apart from the obvious possible damage to the panels. All of this needs to be monitored regularly; hence, the need for garage door maintenance.

Let’s start with springs, which are under high tension. Do not be tempted to replace them yourself. They could jump out and cause you a good bit of harm if you attempted to move them. A torsion spring is designed to take torsion or turning forces, as well as compressive and tensile forces (pushing and pulling forces). An extension spring, on the other hand, is held at both ends and is also under very high tension. They are made of metal., which can be hardened. Any force repeatedly applied to a length of metal changes its molecular structure. This makes it harder but also more brittle. Therefore, a spring could snap in time. It is not easy to determine when this might happen, but these springs are essential in keeping the garage door balanced.

A garage door maintenance service Baytown TX is needed when you detect stiffness or when the door starts to go out of balance. The consequences of a crashing garage door could be serious. This is obviously the case with any vehicle underneath. Also, there may be children running around as well as pets, not forgetting yourself and the rest of your family. You could do with professional help. Therefore, you will need to find a professional company that understands all these problems. Garage Doors Baytown can provide you with regular garage door maintenance and servicing assistance. To start with, all the springs will need to be replaced regularly. This will depend upon usage. This should not be ignored, as the consequences may just be too serious to contemplate.

Garage Door Maintenance Starts With You

You can take an active role n the initial stages of your garage door maintenance. The “force setting test” is a very important part of this. Most garage doors now use “openers” or remote switches. At first, open the door and leave it open for a while. If there is not a smooth even opening, this could indicate a problem with balance. The doors are out of alignment or there is a problem with the springs. Then fully close the door. The next stage is to try and lift the door from the bottom. It should want to close again. If not, there could be a problem with the sensors. If it closes too quickly, this again would indicate a problem. For any worries or doubts, call a maintenance technician from Metal Garage Door Repair

Another area that needs monitoring is the drive needed to lift the garage door. This could either be a belt drive or a chain drive. Excessive vibrations during lifting might be down to the nuts and bolts starting to work loose from the supporting brackets. Again, all of these will need tightening up by an expert.

The door balance should be tested every month or two months. If the door is stopped half-way up and the opener is isolated, a check needs to be conducted to see if the door holds. If not, there could well be a problem with the springs. There are more areas that need to be checked.

Garage Door Maintenance Service – Every Part Matters

There are more systems that play a critical part in the proper functioning of your garage doors. Rollers are either steel or made from nylon. These do break. Also, the tracking may get out of alignment. Grit and dirt may start clogging up the mechanisms. Overall, regular lubrication, especially of the belt and chain drive systems, is also needed. This also includes cleaning mechanisms. Added to this, you will need to inspect the rubber weather stripping that surrounds the whole garage door frame. Rubber will harden and crack over time. If there are gaps in this protective stripping, then the outside weather will bring in rain and outside debris from your front garden or pathway. All of this can potentially damage the door mechanisms. Water ingress can start to rust steel parts.

If there is any problem with the main power supply, immediately call for outside help. There is a 24/7 emergency garage door maintenance service available. Again, loose connections or broken sockets need to be dealt with immediately.

There could be problems with the remote opener and sensor systems on the door. This would definitely need specialist help. Units may have to be serviced, re-programmed or possibly replaced.

The door itself may have gotten dented by someone reversing the car into it. The door may now be out of alignment and imbalanced. Help will be needed.

Visual inspections can tell you a lot, but regular checks by professionals are what you need.